In 268 regular-season games, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask has accumulated 136 wins and picked up 61 extra points for his team in overtime or the shootout. But against the Montreal Canadiens, his 3-14-3 record is less than admirable.
Categorically, things get off to a rough start for Rask and devolve from there.
Bruins forward Matt Beleskey hit Tomas Plekanec with an illegal check to the head just 1:14 into the first period of Saturday’s game, and 11 seconds later Montreal’s David Desharnais scored on the power play.
Two goals from Lars Eller, in a span of five and half minutes in the second period, made it 3-0 Montreal.
Beleskey responded late in the second to make it a game, but that’s as close as the Bruins got in this one.
As for Rask, he made 34 saves and helped Boston shut down five other Montreal power plays—including a five-on-three—and still came out on the losing end of this one.
He will take no consolation in his strong performance.
This was Boston’s sixth straight loss to their most bitter rival, and it appeared all but certain that would be the result before the game even reached the halfway point.
Nothing went the Bruins’ way.
The Canadiens dominated virtually every facet of the contest. If they were out-hit 33-16, it was largely due to the fact they had the puck all night—owning possession by winning 55 per cent of the faceoffs and taking 60 per cent of the game’s shot attempts.
The Canadiens also forced six direct turnovers and had five takeaways.
Speaking of takeaways, here are five things worth noting about Saturday night’s game:
Early-season goals for Eller should provide confidence
It was a dominant performance for Montreal’s line of Eller (65 per cent Corsi for at even strength), Alex Galchenyuk (66 per cent) and Alexander Semin (77 per cent).
The latter two flashed all-world skill to set Eller up for both of his goals on the night. And the escalating Corsi numbers for each of them signify the type of poise they’re capable of playing with.
“[Semin and Galchenyuk] hold onto the puck for that second longer to be able to make the play and draw the guys to them,” said Eller. “That’s one of their strongest assets and we saw that today.”
With his linemates bringing those skills to the equation, Eller’s role is to finish plays.
But Eller has spent the majority of his career playing as a shutdown centre, seeing heavy usage in the defensive zone. He’s never been able to sustain a top-six role, never scored more than 18 goals at the professional level and never more than 16 in an NHL season.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien met with Eller this summer and let him know he’d be playing left wing on Galchenyuk’s line to start the season. The challenge would be for him to train to become a finisher.
Saturday night’s game was Eller’s fifth multi-goal performance in 365 games in the NHL. And this year, he will attempt to do what he’s never been able to do before: Have more than one multi-goal game in a season.
Galchenyuk and Semin are good enough to push him over the hump and help him achieve that goal. The chemistry between the three is undeniable.
But the 26-year-old Dane must prove he can sustain this kind of production if he wishes to keep this role.
The confidence Eller gleams from a strong pre-season and impressive early-season performance can only help him build towards that end.
Unnecessary roughness
It wouldn’t be a Bruins-Canadiens game without some shenanigans. Predictably, they started with ill-timed penalties for Boston as they were chasing down a two-goal lead in the third.
Granted, a match penalty for this hit from Boston’s Ryan Spooner on Brian Flynn was hardly deserved.
But it was unquestionably a penalty for boarding.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand compounded the issue four minutes into Spooner’s major penalty by slashing defenceman Nathan Beaulieu’s stick out of his hands.
There was a momentum swing in the game when the Canadiens failed—quite miserably—on their power play opportunities, but as Price closed the door and Montreal slowed the pace, frustration began to set in for Boston.
Marchand took a run at Dale Weise and collided with Weise’s elbow on the follow-through of a shot. He stumbled to the bench and didn’t return to the game.
Montreal’s Torrey Mitchell received a match penalty in the last minute of the game for slew-footing Zac Rinaldo and jumping Max Talbot.
But that was as rough as it got.
Plekanec scored his 500th NHL point
For a player most known for his worth in the defensive zone, it’s pretty remarkable that Plekanec notched point No. 500 in his 763rd game.
The achievement speaks to his consistency: a player with seven 20-goal seasons, one criminally overlooked for Selke Trophy recognition throughout his career.
Plekanec’s dedication makes him one of the team’s most respected leaders.
Torey Krug thinks Bruins are too focused on the rivalry
Boston’s diminutive defenceman was asked after the game why his team has fallen into a pattern of losing to the Canadiens.
“You can’t hype it up,” said Krug. “It’s just another team. It’s worth the same of points as every other game that you play. For whatever reason, we’ve got to work through it.”
But it’s hard to tell if this game fit the pattern of Boston’s previous five losses to the Canadiens, or if it typifies what’s bound to be a difficult year for their team.
Injured defencemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg leave a gaping hole on the blue line, and the loss of Dougie Hamilton in a trade seems insurmountable. As a result, the scheme in front of Rask was as discombobulated Saturday as it was for the Bruins in a 6-2 loss against Winnipeg Thursday.
Galchenyuk thriving at centre
Galchenyuk’s first major tests at centre have gone swimmingly. He scored the game-winning goal on Thursday against Toronto and had three assists in Boston Saturday.
It hasn’t been flawless—Galchenyuk won 29 per cent of his draws in Boston after winning 70 per cent of them in Toronto—but the decision to commit to him up the middle has paid major dividends already.
